On a gently rolling hillside in Baltimore's historic Green Mount Cemetery, the ashes of John Walter Lord Jr., 84, the author and historian who died May 19 in New York, will be interred in a private service this morning.
Lord, who was born and raised in Baltimore, will rest in his family's plot in the Yew Section of the cemetery, where his parents, John W. Lord Sr. and Henrietta Mactier Hoffman Lord, and his sister, Henrietta Hoffman Lord, who died at 19 of scarlet fever, are buried.
Nearby are the graves of Lord's mother's family, including Mary Dorothea Hoffman, the great-aunt he never knew, but whose memory and courage he venerated all his life.
In 1998, when Lord was suffering greatly from Parkinson's disease, he told a Sun reporter that if he were physically able, he would write a book about his Great-aunt Dora. She embodied his fascination with how ordinary people face extraordinary circumstances, a theme in many of his books, including A Night to Remember, his story of the sinking of the Titanic.
"Dora Hoffman, my grandfather's sister, lost her life in the great Hotel Windsor fire that swept through the Manhattan hotel on St. Patrick's Day in 1899 and killed 91," Lord said. "It was pure bedlam. The firefighters couldn't get through the crowds because of the St. Patrick's Day Parade. It was harrowing.
"She was visiting an elderly friend, Margaret Auze, on what they called the 'fatal fifth floor' of the Fifth Avenue hotel when the fire broke out. She refused to leave her [friend's] side and perished," he said.
In March 1899, Hoffman and two nieces, Sophie and Elizabeth McLane, went to New York by train to see Auze, a friend of Hoffman's from Alabama. Hoffman and Auze both had rooms on the fifth floor of the Windsor, a fashionable eight-story marble and brick hotel.
On March 17, a beautiful spring day in New York, huge crowds lined the streets to watch the parade.
About 3 p.m., as John Foy, a hotel waiter, walked toward a fourth-floor window to catch a glimpse of the festivities, he noticed a guest striking a match to light a cigar or cigarette, and then tossing it aside. The still-burning match landed in the folds of a lace curtain. Within moments, flames shot to surrounding draperies.
Foy pulled the fire alarm chain, breaking it. He began warning guests as he raced to the main floor to alert the manager, Warren F. Leland.
Leland ordered his clerks to save the hotel's valuable papers and books, as Foy rushed to the basement to alert women in the laundry of the danger.
Within 10 minutes, flames roared through the Windsor, sealing off escape by stairway or elevator. Many guests and employees jumped from the windows; some died instantly while others were taken to hospitals.
"The hotel was full of wealthy guests, many of whom were women. Their panic was terrible when the flames suddenly caught them in a furnace from which escape for many seemed impossible," The Sun reported.
Police and fire units rushed to the scene but were slowed by the parade crowds. The fire eventually went to five alarms.
On the fifth floor, Hoffman stayed with Auze, who had difficulty walking and a heart condition. Both died.
"Miss Hoffman was younger, ... and a woman of tried courage. Her friends recall that she volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War and cared for the wounded in the field of Gettysburg," The Sun reported.
Within two hours from the start of the fire, the Windsor collapsed into a horrifying ruin. Only an 85-foot chimney remained standing.
In Baltimore, Hoffman's family's telegrams inquiring about her whereabouts went unanswered. A few days later, they gave up hope of her being alive.
"I saw all the bodies that had been recovered from the fire and all the injured in the hospitals and elsewhere, and she was not among them," said her brother, R. Curzon Hoffman.
"Probably my sister's body is under this burning debris. If that proves true, it is doubtful whether we ever will find it, as anything of flesh and bone subjected to such heat for any length of time would be surely cremated."
Several days later, The Sun reported that Dora Hoffman's badly burned body was found. Identification was made by her brother, who said the three gold rings, breast pin and watch belonged to her. One corner of a burned handkerchief also survived the fire. It carried her initials: "D.H."
Dora Hoffman's Episcopal funeral was held in her home on April 2, 1899, and she was buried in Green Mount. Her stone marker bears the epitaph: "Blessed Are The Pure in Heart, For They Shall See God."
A "Celebration of the Life of Gilman and Baltimore Son, Walter Lord" will be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Gilman School, 5407 Roland Ave. It is open to the public. Information: 410-323-7176.